Technical Program Manager Role

Technical Program Manager (TPM) is a Program Manager with “technical” domain experience. The roles and responsibilities of a TPM differ from one company to the other. In general though, in addition to being a Program Manager, at a minimum the T- in the TPM should be able to:

1. Understand the underlying technologies being used in the Program/Projects.
2. Understand the technical decisions made, risks, issues and be able to identify how it impacts the overall Program.
3. Communicate the Program status, architecture, risks to the stakeholders at the required technical detail.
4. Assess the complexity of the Program, and guide the teams with decision making by analyzing how a particular decision would impact the Program deliverables.
5. Ask meaningful questions in meetings so that the teams consider both short term and long term impact.
6. Be able to define KPIs, metrics to track the quality, maintainability of the Product and identify ways to improve metrics.
7. Understand the dependencies on other tasks/teams.
8. Deliver customer value by implementing a suitable Program Management methodology (waterfall vs. agile vs. hybrid).
9. Evaluate and understand financial impact.
10. Understand the bigger picture and help teams make tradeoffs between craftsmanship vs. timelines.

Above list is not a comprehensive list but a summary based on my experience. It is relatively easy to transition to a Technical Program Manager role if you are already in a technical role like an Engineer, Tester, Developer, Architect etc. than a Program Manager transitioning into a technical field.

Is this role for you?

Pursue this role if you are:

1. Passionate about technology.
2. Passionate about working with people and making teams succeed.
3. Able to deal with constantly changing priorities.
4. Able to bring structure and clarity in chaos.
5. Not afraid to take risks and fail.
6. Great communicator and facilitator.
7. Able to deal with high pressure and high stress environments.

How to become a TPM?

I transitioned from a Lead Software Engineer to a TPM role and here are a few things that have helped me:

1. Volunteer to be a TPM for a small project within your company to understand the various aspects that entail in successfully completing a project end to end.
2. Highly recommend pursuing any of the Program Management related certifications. (Read my other blog on Professional Certifications). PMP is a popular one and this certification really helped me understand the depth of Project Management. While PMP is very process heavy, it was helpful to learn about all the tools and processes that are available.
3. Learn about Agile methodologies.
4. Shadow other TPMs and learn from them.
5. Find a mentor.

If there are things that have helped you with your TPM journey, please add them in comments. Good luck!